Cardiff City 1-0 Birmingham City

The XI

One change. With Ryan Woods in talks with Hull City, Alfie Chang stepped in at the base of midfield for his league debut. Jordan Graham was also absent from the squad with Josh Williams and George Hall returning.

The game

A shocker. It started quickly, Ryan Wintle firing wide after Romaine Sawyers ran off Chang into the right channel. Sawyers & Max Watters were then denied by John Ruddy after Callum O'Dowda got in behind Auston Trusty.

We didn't learn our lesson. On 17 minutes, Przymeslaw Placheta switched off and O'Dowda ran in behind, teeing up Jaden Philogene with Maxime Colin a spectator.

Blues' best chance of the match probably came when Juninho Bacuna and Troy Deeney linked up to set Scott Hogan away, the striker denied by an excellent Jamilu Collins challenge. It wasn't the spark needed. A catalogue of errors over the final 10 minutes of the half leading to chances for Philogene, Watters, Watters again and almost Philogene again before Watters took the ball off him.

It couldn't get worse, right? Within five minutes of the second half, O'Dowda was denied by Marc Roberts at close range then forced yet another stop from Ruddy. Blues did at least produce one decent move, Williams, on debut, finding Hogan whose cut back was cut out. Changes were made but while Lukas Jutkiewicz toiled up top trying to flick on long balls, Cardiff were making things happen, Kion Etete twice close before Sheyi Ojo curled wide.

Tactics

Blues lined up 3-1-4-2 with Cardiff going 4-3-3.

Blues' attempts at a press never got going. Instead, Cardiff were able to play out with ease, making use of overloads against Deeney and Hogan to either find Wintle or spread play across the back and move forward.

Once Cardiff broke, they targeted the right channel. It often came from Blues not engaging with the first pass, one defender stepping up and the space in behind exploited by Watters or O'Dowda. Blues giving the ball away cheaply often led to forward runs from Sawyers or Rinomhota to the same area.

It's difficult to know what Blues' plan in possession was. Any attempts to play down the right were foiled by Dion Sanderson, Colin and Bacuna being nowhere near their usual selves, the ball being moved too slowly to create the kind of quick breaks that worked well against Huddersfield. It was easy for Cardiff to pressure the ball and either force an error or Blues backwards. Down the other flank, it was left to Placheta to create something from nothing. With Bacuna having one of his poorer showings, they lacked a spark.

The first water break helped. Having failed in their attempts to stop Cardiff, Blues started engaging a little higher. James dropped in alongside Chang to form a two and ensure they weren't as isolated, Bacuna stepped onto Wintle and the strikers got closer to the centre-backs, cutting off the outside pass and forcing it centrally. While the pieces were in place, the midfield struggled to dominate the ground duels so Cardiff continued to play out in those areas.

There was a brief change after half-time to what appeared to be a 4-2-3-1 with Trusty at LB, Colin at RB and Placheta & Hogan wider. That didn't last long, Roberts' injury 10 minutes into the half leading to a return to 3-4-1-2, Colin & Trusty stepping inside with Williams coming on at RWB. That worked better & Blues finally started engaging more with the WB's taking up positions much higher up the pitch.

Then the final two substitutions were made (Hall & Leko for Bacuna & Chang). James was tiring and struggled for legs alone at the base of midfield while Leko's attempts to impress led to a chaotic 15 minutes either as an attacking midfielder or wing-back, which did little for our shape.

Players

Only John Ruddy stood out in a Blues shirt on a tough day. He made a number of saves, including a double save early on and a big stop 1 v 1 versus Watters.

The back five as individuals and as a unit were extremely poor. Their concentration levels were appalling and it led to a disjointed backline that was too easy to breach down the sides & failed to react to developing situations.

Chang showed why he has been trusted in terms of his ball retention. He will have learned a valuable lesson or two, including the need to engage quicker when pressing.

Bacuna had arguably his poorest game in a Blues shirt and, one pass aside, it was another quiet and frustrating day for Deeney.

As for Cardiff, I was impressed with their unit as a whole. Morison & his coaching staff deserve a lot of credit.

Callum O'Dowda was the standout, setting up the goal and being a consistent thorn in the Blues defence. Jamilu Collins look a smart addition and I'm a big fan of Andy Rinomhota.

Anything else?

The referee's hair. Grey hair, slicked back and with an alice band. Ballsy.

I'll give him his due, he had a high threshold for what should be a foul and I respected his consistency on it. As for the penalties... I've seen them given, I've seen them waved away. Given our performance, I can hardly say not giving us a penalty cost us the game.

Conclusions

Difficult one. If Huddersfield showcased what this side can do, Saturday showed the scale of the task at hand for John Eustace.

It's clear that Eustace's plan for Blues out of possession is to force the opposition to play centrally into pockets so that his team can win possession and break as a unit with space to move into. He had no Woods or Graham so had to play Roberts despite him evidently not being 100% and two teenagers in midfield with Gardner and Bielik both missing. A well-drilled Cardiff side with strong, technical midfielders and a pacey forward line were primed to make the most of those issues.

And again, we look at depth. We've started slowly and yet his substitutes were Josh Williams (19), Lukas Jutkiewicz, Jonathan Leko and George Hall (18). George Friend and Jobe Bellingham (16) were what he had left. He's working with a hand tied behind his back.

Hopefully the sale of Woods and along with the departures of one or two (hopefully 5/6) others can open up some funds to get bodies through the door. Eustace desperately needs to improve his squad if he has any chance of maintaining the standards set in the first two matches.